So? I got a video card with nearly 4 times the passmark score of my old one and saw 3 more FPS. The GTX 560 is old (I have the factory OC Asus one too which is closer to the 560Ti rather than the stock 560), but no slouch and it bagged a pathetic 3 more FPS over a 9800GTX+

Went from a E7500 Core 2 Dual to an i5 4670k and got an additional 130 FPS. To me, that's a solid case that the game is extremely CPU bound and that GPU plays a relatively minor role.

I still rarely ever see R_Stats1 report more than 1 MS waiting for GPU.

I'm not denying that this game is CPU intensive, but out of all of my games, including BF3 this one uses up a huge amount of memory. Nothing else tops 1 gig whereas this almost reaches 2!

Most likely due to poor optimization. NS2 creates a problem for budget gamers as most games are GPU bound, thus you have a trade off. Do you get better performance in NS2 and worse in others or worse in NS2 and better in others? Many people can't afford a $200+ processor AND a $250+ GPU on top of everything else on a new build. Something's gotta give.

I personally get around this by reusing GPUs so I can spread the cost over two computers. But on new budget builds, this is a real problem.

Absolutely. I have a Phenom II 965 Black Edition, it's a 3.4GHz quad and a HD 7850 2GB which is overclocked loads and the game runs really well at my native resolution, I only have problems in 20 player end game battles where I dip to around 42fps which is still playable - hell some people get that in the ready room! I'd condider my PC a fairly budget PC (In terms of PC gaming and the components out there)

That 650 is not a good card, it is cheap, sure, but it still does not offer a good price for its performance. Similar for your CPU. Intels become competetive once you hit i5s and even than a FX-8350 may still be a better choice.

Depending on your budget a A10-6800k can be a great and cheap gaming system. If you budget allows to step a little up to AMDs CPUs paired a 7790 / 260x or one of those super nice 280x.

The whole kill your console series is quite nice, but keep in mind that we have currently a big price drops for GPUs thanks to the new amd cards and so not all informations on GPU prices are current in the video series.